Who founded AnimeNation and when was it started?
AnimeNation was founded in 1995 by Gene Field in Clearwater, Florida. The company grew from a retail startup into one of the top two online anime specialty retailers in the United States by 2004.
Questions about AnimeNation
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was AN Entertainment and what titles did it license?
AN Entertainment was the anime licensing and distribution label formed by AnimeNation in 2002. It licensed titles including Risky Safety, Miami Guns, Haré+Guu, and Haré+Guu Deluxe. Risky Safety was distributed by ADV Films, while Haré+Guu was distributed by Funimation.
What was the AnimeNation Ask John column?
Ask John was a regular column on AnimeNation where employee John Oppliger answered reader questions about anime. By 2005, Oppliger had written over 1,070 articles, and the column continued to operate as of the 5th of July 2023, even after the online store closed.
When did the AnimeNation online store close?
The AnimeNation online store closed in 2014. The company cited increased licensing and retail competition as the reason for entering the licensing market in 2002, and that competitive pressure contributed to the eventual closure.
What was RentAnime.com and when did it close?
RentAnime.com was a DVD-by-mail service operated by AnimeNation that specialized in anime, similar in model to Netflix. It outlasted the AnimeNation online store and closed at the end of 2015.
What was significant about Haré+Guu airing on the Funimation Channel?
Haré+Guu was the first show to air on the Funimation Channel that was not a Funimation property. AN Entertainment licensed the title and co-produced the dub with Bang Zoom! Entertainment, with Funimation handling distribution.